Hi thanks Dan.
For glue I just use Loctite 454 gel for setting and 414 for reinforcement. See below picture, I dry fitted the deck pieces with the hull. The fore and aft pieces fit really well with the hull, can't really see a gap. The middle deck piece, as you can see, has clear gaps with the hull on either side. I don't think I'll do anything about it though, since these two sides will be completely covered by a couple more deck pieces (next pic). Anything under these two pieces will be obscured, even if viewed from the side angle, due to the funnels and lifeboats on top of the decks.
And you are right, in most of the threads here, the process I see is usually assembly before painting. For hand painting though, it's easier to paint the deck pieces first since I can orient them in any angle I want to cover the small features. Also I'm trying to get away without using masking tape. A brush doesn't have the same accessibility as an airbrush, so later on with the superstructure, the funnels, and even parts of the hull, I'll likely be building and painting sections at a time.
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